Police catch black amber diggers red-handed in Rivne region

Police catch black amber diggers red-handed in Rivne region

Katerina Belousova

Preventive raids will continue to be conducted in the region

In Rivne region, police exposed three illegal amber diggers who were mining stones with motorized pumps.

The violations were detected in Sarny district, namely in Rokytne and Dubrovychchyna, the Rivne Regional Police reported on Facebook.

It is noted that pre-trial investigations are ongoing under Part 1 of Article 240-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

The press service said that one offender was found on March 16 in the Vy'yok tract near the village of Tomashhorod. It was an 18-year-old local resident who was mining amber with a motorized pump.

The report added that two other black diggers from the village of Perebrody were exposed on March 18. An all-terrain vehicle with a trailer with a motorized pump, 10 canisters of fuel and raw amber stones were seized from them.

"Preventive raids will continue," the police press service emphasized.

In Rivne region, police exposed eight members of the group, including one of the local community members, who had set up illegal mining, processing and sale of amber and seized 200 kg of stones from them. According to preliminary data, the value of the amber is almost UAH 4.5 million.

As EcoPolitic previously reported, prosecutors found an underground amber processing shop in Volyn, where 24 kg of raw amber was seized from its employees.

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